The Knights Watchman

There's actually been a considerable amount of news this week coming out of the Sonny Werbelin rec center at good ole Rutgers. First, Greg Schiano addressed some of the holes on his staff. Bob Fraser and Ed Pinkham have been named co-defensive coordinators, while Kiar Ciarocca and Kyle Flood were named co-offensive coordinators. As far as the de-co spot goes, I'm happy that Schiano feels that he is in a good enough place to relinquish the coordinator duties. It will give him more time to focus on other aspects of a continuously expanding program, as well as give him the opportunity to focus more on the task at hand during possession changes and things of that nature. Having two offensive coordinators is a little strange, but can work if both guys have fully bought into Schiano's philosophy, which to me seems to be to have a varied offensive attack to get the lead and then run out the clock to keep the lead. So, it could be as simple has having Coach Ciarocca call the passes...

Check out the link in the title. One espn reporter has already put Rutgers football in his pre-preseason top 25. Obviously premature, but still good press.

A few days ago, Rutgers football announced that safety Courteney Greene and WRs Kenny Britt and Tiquan Underwood had been selected to compete at the NFL Scouting combine. It’s a great honor to be selected to go, as it can definitely enhance a player’s draft status and opportunity to be signed to a deal at the next level. But there were are a couple other players who I felt should have been given an invite. Certainly, Jamaal Westerman would have been another invite had he not elected to have season-ending surgery after the last Big East game of the year. He put up extremely impressive sack totals in a league with a number of mobile quarterbacks. The other is QB Mike Teel. Regardless of his rough start to the season and career interception total, I feel Teel deserved the nod over Hunter Cantwell of Louisville. Anyone who watched the RU/Louisville game will tell you that Teel grossly outplayed Cantwell in every facet of the game and it’s clear who the better player is. I also find it surp...

Regardless of which recruiting service you subscribe to, it seems clear that this is the top recruiting class in Rutgers history. The list of who they got is well-chronicled, with the usual excellent write-up of reach recruit on this page at scarletknights.com. My thoughts on the specific positions are as follows: I agree with coach that it would have been nice to get a third offensive lineman, particularly a center to replace the kid from Immaculata who decommitted, especially because at the moment there is only one true center on the roster. However, a number of the linemen in the program are agile enough to make the switch should it be necessary. Plus, I believe a backup center is one of those things that can be found in the Juco ranks if it’s absolutely necessary. There are no specialists in the class this year, and that’s fine with me. The kickers and punters on the roster each have a number of years of eligibility remaining. And those are positions not worth spending a commitmen...

The Asbury Park Press has posted a long article about Jersey and Rutgers product Darnell Stapleton, discussing his past, and preparation for tonight's Super Bowl. You can read the article here . Stapleton is just one of the reasons I'll be rooting for the Steelers tonight. This is a great story of a young man who stuck it out, worked hard, and continued to believe in himself to get to where he is today.